I was OP today despite a goodbye party at 10:00 with awesome food. I took a plate back to my desk, waited until lunch time, then ate it as lunch. I ran 5k this morning. I am still so chuffed about this new capability. The plan to at least read my anti-craving card before I act is working out well so far. It is such an achievable goal, and is enough to talk me down, usually. Friday weigh-in: down 1 lb. Cheryl: I really like what you posted and I will put in my card stack.

Finally Friday and a day off. One thing I know about my food patterns is that if I have too many schedule events too many weekends in a row I feel overwhelm and defeated.This is the third weekend in a row I am traveling - way too many. I have to encourage myself by saying I have a whole month till my next commitment. That feels better. So I must make the best of it.

Credit for making a shopping plan to buy food of the cabin that is healthy. Credit for step class today and skiing tomorrow. I have been actively reminding myself about strengthening my resistance muscle. I have to remind myself I am suppose to feel a little empty in my stomach or I am not on plan.

Posting earlier today than keeps me accountable, but when I plan to post at night when DH is home, I rarely find the time to... Little food that goes together is left in the pantry. I must hit the market tonight or tomorrow. We're planning to hit our historic theatre to enjoy "To Catch A Thief" on the big screen. Should be a great evening.

Still under 170, so I'm counting that as a success, since I enjoyed homemade salted popcorn (made on the stove with olive oil and kernels) last night.

I'm antsy for the warmer weather to start here in a few months ... and to enjoy some tasty tomatoes, and, well, tastier everything, it seems.

Will try to head out a bit early today from work ... I know I'll be putting in hours on the weekend, as well, so ... will stave off any guilt.

__________________
Started the Fast Metabolism Diet mid-Aug ... Ladybug for good luck!

I have to run but *credit* I submitted my art submission before 1pm today -A DAY EARLY--unheard of for me. May it be a sign of the way things will be from here on in.

We are off to the theatre and to eat downtown. I have been back OP since my over-indulgence yesterday.

I did want to *credit myself for discovering that I am satisfied eating half a sandwich. I discovered this during my week with my sister as we were going from here to there and could find sandwiches to buy and then we would split one and we were good to go for the next few hours. It is a JOY to see myself enjoying 1/2 the quantity of food I used to "need" to feel good.

I am ready to re-commit to the gym over the weekend and will aim to stay focused there until my sioster returns in 6-8 weeks. I will see if I can make a major dent in my weight/strength and endurance levels during this next 2 months.

Ok gotta go. We're driving then taking the subway. How very Urban of us!

Credits:
Went to gym and did my program
Planned food and ate on plan and kept it on the light side
A bit hungry tonight which I was aiming for
Prepared a few meals for the freezer
Reported in here
Looked at advantages cards

A good Weigh-In today, down 2 pounds. Surprised and delighted since I haven't felt terribly hungry this week.

Credit: Stubbornly writing down every calorie I ate, no matter how embarassing [like, er, the 25 calorie Mini-Milky Way we have in heaps around my workplace].

Credit: After a good Weigh-In I am firmly resetting my mind to "Day One" mode. This is the first of another 7 days [since I feel overwhelmed by thinking "Gee, 5 more months of this"]. I can handle thinking a week ahead.

Credit: Did more journalling about why I am doing this to help shore up my Advantage Response Card.

Hello, all! Dinner last night was at Panera courtesy of a Christmas gift card, so the triple bonus of OP, yummy, and free for us. Wait, a fourth bonus of no dishes Hit up Trader Joe's for a $$ trip and found a few new items that I'm anxious to try. One being a folded pizza that looks insanely like what we'd get in Italy (400 calories), that, along with a salad would be a great treat meal. Can you tell I'm dying to try it?

Have cleaning to do at home this morning before running out for actual marketing that was on my list. Will do meal/marketing listing and get to it today. Thrilled that it's already above freezing today! Yay!

Credits - ordering well at Panera, mini snack of 50 calories later at night that was OP ... Goal today to be OP and more credits. And to take a trail walk with the pooch and DH if he's awake.

Weight is just one pound above ticker.

Old-fashioned dinner date tonight - old Hitchcock movie at a 1920's theatre ($5 tickets for all of their movies, so very family friendly) ...

__________________
Started the Fast Metabolism Diet mid-Aug ... Ladybug for good luck!

Hello Coaches,
Belated check-in. Started to type responses yesterday and somehow lost track and missed submitting! Friday was a fine day, OP for exercise and food. New car battery is working great - hurray! I was a little concerned it might be the alternator, but all seems fine now. I walked the treadmill while the boys swam instead of having dozens of errands. Today is off to collect groceries and my ds's big recital. Will come back later to report on today and have personals.

*credit weighed in and saw 264.3. Great.
*credit for tracking food.
*credit for passing on sweet treats given to me by my neighbour. I brought them to the guild this morning. I have also given my (sigh this one was hard) free square of dark chocolate that comes with my coffee at Aroma coffee shop on to DH. All because I want to continue my streak of no sugar days. I am at day 26 today. *credit for that.

Today we'll go out to a comic book show-unless I stay home. Haven't decided yet. Probably I'll go. I am also planning some exercise for today. I would like to incorporate at least a one mile Walk Away the Pounds walk daily. I'd like to do that daily until my sister comes back so I'll aim for that goal.

Ok breakfast is served (thanks DH!) Will be back later.

UPDATE: stayed on track today. *credit* did a lot of walking while we were out and fell asleep on the couch. It's early but I am off to bed. I have an early start tomorrow.

Hello Coaches,
My feet are sore! Lots of walking grocery shopping, especially since I parked in almost the furthest spot at Costco. So quiet way out there! Also walked a bit across campus to watch ds's dress rehearsal for tonight's recital, as well as taking pup to the park twice. I'm baking pumpkin bread for breakfast since we need something quick before we head to church in the morning. We are helping lead a financial seminar for the next nine weeks and will be extra busy Sundays. There is also a picnic tomorrow afternoon, which I'm unsure if we'll attend. That would be my first exposure to unlimited food since Christmas. I still need to stick ingredients in the bread maker so it can bake overnight, then I'm off duty!

Food OP, Exercise OP
Cheryl/GosfordGirl So glad the acupuncturist is likeable, hope it works out for you. Sounds like you had a great Saturday with many health tasks accomplished - awesome!
BillBlueEyes Wishing you a great trip and a wonderful weekend.

6crowsgold Huge kudos for staying hydrated Friday and having such positive results.

LoseToAll

flnu Great job staying OP through a party! Awesome for committing to reading your ARC when you need it!!!

maryann Glad you had a day off and hope you enjoy skiing!

nationalparker Do you grow your own tomatoes? I loved fresh tomatoes when we lived in the mid-west. Nothing like them here in AZ. Hope you enjoyed your movie

onebyone Hurray for an early submission! Kudos for adjusting to less food and still feeling good! Awesome job for staying OP today and all your walking.
6crowsgold Hurray for down 2!

I am checking in early because I am no where near finished with work and it will be a late one I am sure. I have sat at the desk all day and don't seem to have achieved much so so much for planning and preparation

Food has been on plan - but I have no plans made about dinner food so that is dangerous. I think it will be something with mince and spices and green beans

I need to get more organised next week to avoid the Sunday sillies of doing everything at the last minute. Not sure how that is going to happen but will work on it. Plan to go to gym Tuesday evening, and Thursday or Friday depending on whether I see trainer on Friday, and then either Saturday or Sunday. These are in my diary for each week or it won't happen.

Food for lunch tomorrow is organised - will have to sort dinner tomorrow

The move to Kigali has gone well, my eating has been about 70% OP but exercise has been fully OP which I am happy with. I have the next week to relax a little and will also be doing a brief visit to Brundi before my next team arrive. One thing I am happy with is that I am using portion control and it does not require any special calculations etc so I have no excuse to abandon my diet.

I am off to the ceramic guild to babysit the kiln as it fires down. I have to be on my toes so it doesn't over-fire and play havoc with the glazed surfaces of the ceramic pots inside.

*credit* I weighed in today to see a 1.8lb rise to 266.3. I thought I was done with that number? I had two small salami sticks yesterday and no doubt that salt is the culprit. Tomorrow I weigh in officially and so have to watch the salt and up the water today to give my body a chance to flush that sodium.

*credit for being OP and tracking.

*credit for starting the day with a 1 mile WATP video. 15 minutes of energetic walking upon waking. Great. Maybe 15 more later.

Better go. Bye for now.

UPDATE: kiln was tricky as is usual around here but I had the wherewithall to deal with it. I was NOT outwitted. *credit* I was terribly tired for the rest of the day once I got home and so I made no move to make dinner and had leftovers from yesterday but my calorie count was higher than the goal my fitbit set for me. I have been in that state for 3 days this week. I don't expect to be able to move my ticker tomorrow. I am often wrong about this. *credit for reading my arc, tracking, checking in here.

I broke all the streaks that I was tracking here. So, not my finest hours. But I’m ready to get back on track today with a new approach. I seem to need new approaches every few weeks or months to keep myself amused enough to continue.

Today I’m thinking about “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need.” I want cinnamon rolls to be as healthy of a breakfast as roasted vegetables tossed into a scrambled egg. Fortunately for me, the veggies and egg sounds pretty good, too, so I can learn to be happy with that.

onebyone: yay for WATP first thing in the morning. I hope that provides the energy needed to be on your toes for the kiln.

ladym0208: congrats on a successful move and credit for sticking to your plan.

GosfordGirl: I hope you're getting off to a good start for the week. I'm working on rethinking how my weeks work, too.

AZtricia: I hope your seminar went well this morning and that the pumpkin bread was tasty. In fact, I think I'll go start some pumpkin bread in my bread machine, next.

Good day on a Sunday that is flying by way too quickly. DH is doing taxes, I just returned from the market (and now is when I want to sample things I've bought - even if I know what they taste like). Dinner will be baked chicken and roasted carrots/onions and also a tray of roasted brussel sprouts for DH. I don't like them at all, but will try them. bleh. I think my mind is already made up, huh?

LoseToAll - what gifts do you have planned for yourself in this next 365-day trip around the sun?

GardenerJoy - Sounds like you're already back on track very quickly. Good job and credits for that!

Our dinner and a movie date was great - I love the old costuming of Edith Head - Grace Kelly was stunning in the movie (To Catch a Thief) and, well, she started out great, not just the clothes ... found a new, family-owned Italian cafe on the way there and we each ordered a sandwich. I ate half o mine and the rest for lunch today - deelish.

Weight is back at ticker. Slowly, but at least I'm seeing progress. Next goal - just one pound down. I feel I can't breach the border to 167, so ... aiming for that or below by next Saturday. Then 165. I wonder if I'm setting too low goals or what the deal is.

__________________
Started the Fast Metabolism Diet mid-Aug ... Ladybug for good luck!